Photo: Tory Byrne @ sxc.hu

As a first step towards overcoming procrastination and stress in your life, try to understand the way you practice it.

1. Go through the list given at How Procrastination And Stress Controls You and identify the patterns which best depict your behavior.

2. Make a mental note of the task that you are procrastinating and mark somewhere the time by which it should be finished. Think carefully of the consequences if the task is delayed beyond this time, and the cost in terms of stress and anxiety which it will cost you if you keep on delaying it beyond a certain limit. Try to think of other tasks that you may have to leave in order to make way for it later on.

4. If you are always in the 'preparation mode', keep a note somewhere of the time that you have actually spent in preparing, in terms of hours if the task is small, and in terms of number of days if the task takes a long time to complete.

5. If you consider the task to be 'boring', plan ahead for some diversions or breaks or entertainment.

6. If you consider yourself inadequate for the task at hand, be honest about it and take steps to handle this: take help or delegate the task to someone else.

7. It might be that you are overburdened with many important tasks. You need to follow the techniques of good Time Management, which will help in reducing procrastination and stress levels in your life.

Overcome Procrastination By Setting Goals

High achievers are not procrastinators. You cannot achieve much in life without proper planning and goal setting. Under-achievement is a source of lots of stress and guilt in anyone's life; you are always reeling under the pressure of awareness that you have not lived up to your true potential.

If you want to control procrastination and stress, take following steps, which have proved to be very effective in increasing the efficiency of many people -

1. Just Do It! : If you keep on procrastinating, then this process feeds on itself. You feel discouraged and start doubting your ability to handle the task. It is important that once you take up a task, then , even if it gets delayed, make it a point to finish it. Never leave a task unfinished if you can help it. In such cases, even if you have been delayed, you will have the satisfaction of having done the job. This is the most important promise that you should make to yourself if you want to control procrastination and stress.

   
   
   

2. Mark it : If something is vague, then you don't feel sufficiently motivated to undertake it. In your mind make a clear picture of the work that has to be got done. Understand clearly the goal that has to be achieved. Mark the finishing point of the task, so that you are very clear when you will call the task finished. Thinking in terms of goals raises motivation levels.
   
   A task that challenges you, raises your motivation levels. So, try to make goals that are sufficiently challenging for you.
   
   
   

3. Break it :It is a known fact of psychology that if the rewards are far off, then the task looses its shine. You feel more motivated if you can 'smell' the payoff. The proximity of reward raises levels of expectation, and makes you feel more energized. If the task which you are procrastinating takes a long time to finish then it is natural, though not desirable, that you don't feel sufficiently motivated to do it.
   
   To raise your energy levels, break the task into several smaller task, with clearly defined goals. Each goal should be such that it is achievable in the near future. Each goal should also be sufficiently interesting and challenging. Just thinking through all the steps of the task may raise your motivation levels, as sometimes, the very vagueness of the objective holds you back from starting it.
   
   
   

4. Now, Start it! : It is important that you start right. Make initial step of the task such that you can do it unquestionably. When your initial efforts meet with success, you feel more motivated and confident in completing the complete task.
   
   It is important that you just make a start. Even if it is the tiniest step of beginning a task, take it. Sometimes, you keep on avoiding taking up a task due to one reason or another. But once you start doing it, you get interested in it and then follow it through to its completion. You may remember from your student days that you kept n running from preparing for some test papers. But, at one point of time you forced yourself to just sit and start. Then you were so much captivated by the subject that you enjoyed studying it and it never felt like a preparation.
   
   It is so with most of the things in life. Start thinking in terms of Staring rather than Finishing : it will help you greatly in controlling procrastination and stress.
   
   
   

5. Make a Routine : If you are procrastinating some tasks that have to be done regularly – for example, you want to get a muscular body, and you want to exercise daily – then, make that task a part of your routine. The chances of procrastinating a task get increased if you have to take some form of decision every time you have do it. The more choices you have to make, the more chances there are that you will procrastinate it.
   
   Try and weave a task into your daily routine such that it has a predetermined time and it fits neatly into the sequence of daily tasks that you must do. If every time, you have to take a decision – for example, at what time you should exercise, at what place you should do it, which form of exercise you should do, etc. etc. - then most often you will drop it or forget it. Making an important task part of your daily routine in a pre-determined manner is a very effective method that you will do it.
   
   
   

6. It need not be perfect : Accept less than perfect results. Don't always expect perfection in whatever you do. Try accepting failure in some of the tasks that you do. Remember that 'doing' is more important than 'succeeding'. Behind every failure there are lots of failures. You will fail many times in your efforts to control procrastination and stress in your life, but persevere in your endeavor.

Trying to control procrastination and stress is an ongoing process for all of us. It is a part of life. We all are procrastinators to some extent. Only, don't let it control your life.

It is more about changing deep rooted personality traits and psychological blocks, which might not be accessible to you by your rational analytical mind. Self hypnosis helps you do just that. Click here to see how it can help you in conquering procrastination and increasing productivity.

Further Reading

How Procrastination And Stress Control You

Why Hypnosis Is A Friend

How Good Are You At Stress And Time Management?

The Real Benefits Of Time Management

Reduce Stress Levels With 10 Practical Time Saving Tips

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